Once again Real Madrid dropped points on Sunday night, making it three games without a victory against Real Betis. Once again, there was a desire to make Vinicius Junior the headline, as his opposite number Aitor Ruibal was asked about the Brazilian in the post-match.
As tends to be the case, Vinicius was seen protesting loudly at the Benito Villamarin, but in this case not much more than most players trying to influence the game.
Speaking after the match to El Desmarque, Ruibal explained that he feels that Vinicius needs to accept that fans will insult him.
“In the end it is his game. He has to come to terms with the fact that he gets kicked because he tries to dribble a lot. I think that in the end he gets into it with the fans a lot.”
“Today I have seen him up close, he is talking to them all the time and it is normal for them to insult you. I go to the grounds of other teams and the whole 90 minutes they are insulting me. In the end people try to destabilise you.”
While it is clear that Vinicius is not everyone’s cup of tea, the wisdom of those statements could be questioned.
Real Mallorca manager Javier Aguirre admitted that he had asked his players not to rile matters in the media when it came to Vinicius due to the climate surrounding him.
That may well be Ruibal’s opinion of Vinicius, which he is more than entitled to express. As has been seen across the season, plenty of his colleagues share it. Given the amount of racial abuse that Vinicius has experienced this season though, there is an argument that regardless of what he feels, a statement lowering the aggression towards the Real Madrid star might not have added to the circus surrounding the star.
